We all breathe……for some of us, we take the ease for granted. For some, there is a struggle with breathlessness – lungs, hearts, nervous systems or muscles not working as they should. For others, the structures work well, but our modern lives and strains & stresses make us catch our breath.
Our bodies have a magic with breathing – there is a baseline of automatic (known as autonomic control). We don’t have to remember to keep breathing 🙂 Our brain, in response to our blood chemicals, does that for us.
How we feel – now that adds another layer to our breathing – excited, anxious, angry? Our breathing jumps up a gear.
The magic is in our ability to super-impose our choice over these two automated systems. Not always easy, no. But fabulous skills to learn, practise and use. And accessible to all, whatever we are living with.
Our conscious control of being able to slow & deepen the breath, calms our vagus nerve, turns down our fight & flight reflex with that tricky panic and anxiety that can accompany it. The “rest & restore/digest”, parasympathetic system slides back into our calming bodies and minds.
Can’t relax? Meditation or mindfulness seems an impossible target for our racing brains and tense bodies? Simple breathwork can start to ease our minds.
An easy way to start:
Sit or lie comfortably; sigh out
Let the next breath flow in without effort or trying to change it
Sigh out again. Be compassionately curious ~ where does the breath go to on the next inbreath? Notice your chest, perhaps your belly rising?
Let the air flow in & out with as little effort as possible.
Take three easy breaths in, three sighs out. Let each outbreath release slightly more, the inbreath will glide in effortlessly, perhaps a little deeper.
Those three breaths are a magic carpet to a precious pause, re-setting our heightened nervous systems in a busy or worrysome day.
Repeat wherever/whenever……practice makes perfect 🙂
- Sit or lie comfortably
- Sit or lie comfortably – no rules
- Just notice: where does your breathing naturally flow? – no judgement
- Let the next outbreath flow gently and easily out, give a lovely sigh out if that feels right
- Let the inbreath just slide in, effortlessly to take its place
- Breath out, breath in. No effort, no strain, ease & flow. If you can, slow the outbreath just gently as you can
- Three breaths in, three breaths out. Magic re-set!
- If you enjoyed; try anywhere where life allows – in the car, in the supermarket queue, at your computer; when sinking into the sofa in the evening, when lying down in bed at night, or on waking in the morning
- Experiment, try setting a timer for 1 minute, or 3….or more
- Be curious of how you feel then, and later?